Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN!
Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2016.

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Monday, May 23, 2011

The New FamilySearch Family Tree - Post 7: Searching using RootsMagic 4

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Previous posts in this series can be read in the New FamilySearch Family Tree Compendium. As mentioned in earlier posts, a researcher needs to have registered for a free FamilySearch account, and be granted access to newFamilySearch (currently, only LDS church members and selected non-members, like myself), in order to access the NewFamilySearch Family Tree. FamilySearch has stated that the system might be open to everyone in late 2011.

In this post, I'm going to demonstrate how to use RootsMagic 4 to search the NewFamilySearch Family Tree, and how to match a person in my RootsMagic database with a person in newFamilySearch.

From the Family View in RootsMagic4, I can go to File > FamilySearch Central, or use the FamilySearch icon on the menu bar, and click and see:

The screen above notes that I am logged into FamilySearch (you have to enter the registration information the first time you try this). There are four icons in the top row of the FamilySearch Central window - "Find Matches," "Share Data," "Import" and "AutoMatch." In this series, I'm not going to even try the "Import" or "AutoMatch" items - the last thing I want is much more unsourced and unverified information in my RootsMagic database!

I clicked on "Find Matches," and used the index "My RootsMagic People" on the left margin to find Isaac Seaver (1802-1870), the same person I've been working on in the last five posts in this series. I clicked on him and this screen appeared:

The system quickly found the correct Isaac Seaver (currently LHRX-R59). It highlighted in green the assertions in newFamilySearch that agreed with my RootsMagic information, and yellow for items that were different, including the death place (different text) and the mother's name.

There are three tabs on the screen above below the person's name - the screen above is in "Find Matches," and the other tabs are "Share Data" and "Discussions." We will go back to the other two tabs later. The second menu row in the "Find Matches" tab have buttons for "Match with FamilySearch," "Search for more matches" and "Add to FamilySearch."

I was curious about the "Search for more matches" button, so I clicked on that and saw a "Search New FamilySearch" window:

The entries for the person of interest was in Name, Birth, Marriage and Death fields from my RootsMagic database, and I could have edited or changed the fields and the data. This was the person I wanted to search for, so I clicked on "Search."

After several seconds a number of additional possible matches appeared:

This appears to be a list of all of the entries in newFamilySearch that have at least one exact (green) or approximate (yellow) match for the assertions. There were no other entries in newFamilySearch that I wanted to match my RootsMagic entry to.

At this point, I wanted to select the first Possible Match on the screen above and match that entry with my RootsMagic entry for Isaac Seaver (1802-1870). I clicked on the check box next to that match, and then clicked on the "Match with FamilySearch" button." My Isaac was then matched with the nFSFT entry for Isaac Seaver (1802-1870, currently number LHRX-R59):

In the screen above, you can see that my RootsMagic person (ID 36250) now is identified as LHRX-R59. In the index on the left margin, there is a FamilySearch icon beside Isaac Seaver's name.

The second Tab on the top menu row is for "Share Data," so I clicked on that tab and saw (two screens some overlap):

These screens compare my RootsMagic Person on the left and the matched nnewFamilySearch person on the right, with the green (exact) and yellow (approximate) matches to the information in both systems. There are check boxes for every item that is not matched. I could check items in the newFamilySearch list that would then appear in the RootsMagic list, or I could check a box in the RootsMagic list that would then appear in the newFamilySearch list and database, right from RootsMagic.

I wanted to add the Burial fact from RootsMagic to the newFamilySearch database, so I checked the Burial check box:

A small popup box appeared that said "What do you want to do with this fact?" and the only option was to "Add as a new event in FamilySearch." I clicked on the "OK" button and the Fact was added to the newFamilySearch list after several seconds:

Now I should go back into newFamilySearch and add the source for that fact (Isaac Seaver is buried in Whitmanville Cemetery in Westminster, Massachusetts).

The above exercise takes about one minute to complete without any interruption, assuming that the researcher doesn't have to choose multiple persons in newFamilySearch to match to their RootsMagic person. Each addition of a Fact to newFamilySearch takes about 10 seconds to complete.

What did not get transferred from my RootsMagic database:

* Facts that I chose not to transfer, like residence, occupation, census, military, etc. data.
* Notes - there is no facility for adding Notes from a person in RootsMagic to a Note in newFamilySearch.
* Sources - there is no facility for adding Sources or a Fact in RootsMagic to a Fact in newFamilySearch.
* Media - there is no facility for adding Media from a person in RootsMagic to newFamilySearch.

My guess is that there will eventually be these capabilities, and probably more that I haven't thought of, in the future.

However, that means that I, and others, that have Notes, Sources, Media and other data to persons already matched in newFamilySearch will have to go back in and perform these operations when the capability is available.

The RootsMagic user is in control of their information - they can add Facts that they choose to add. They can also select Facts from newFamilySearch to transfer into their RootsMagic database.

It is much, much, much easier to enter data into a newFamilySearch file using RootsMagic (and probably other programs too) than doing it one Fact at a time while on the newFamilySearch website. This process is very logical, and fairly complex, but experienced researchers and RootsMagic users should be able to master this process.

This is an excellent example of an entrepreneurial company (e.g., RootsMagic) working with FamilySearch to gain an Affiliate status so that they can leverage their product in the marketplace. It's an excellent sellingp oint, especially for LDS church members. As noted before, there are several software companies that have this capability at present, and there are others working on it.

In the next post, I'll demonstrate how to add a Person and their information in my RootsMagic database, who is not in newFamilySearch, to the newFamilySearch database.

1 comment:

Randy, I discovered awhile ago that using my Roots Magic to access newfamilysearch.org was the best way to enter and search for my ancestors. It's so much quicker and faster than going directly to the site. I love my Roots Magic! Thanks for this post!

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About Me

I am a native San Diegan, a graduate of San Diego State University, a retired aerospace engineer, a genealogist and a family guy.
My wife (Angel Linda) and I have two lovely daughters, and four darling grandchildren. We love to visit them and have them visit us.
Angel Linda and I love to travel to visit friends and relatives, to sightsee, to cruise or to do genealogy. Our travels have taken us all over the USA, to England, Down Under and Scandinavia.
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